Construction of Korea's Largest RE100 Data Center Worth 10 Trillion Won in Jeonnam Solar City

The construction of the largest data center cluster complex in South Korea is set to be actively promoted in Solarsido, a corporate city being developed in Haenam-gun, Jeollanam-do. It is expected to help resolve the overconcentration of data centers in the metropolitan area and alleviate the burden on the power grid.

Signing ceremony of the MOU for the creation of Solasido Data Center Park. From the left: Hwang Junho, CEO of Korea DRD; Ryu Kihoon, CEO of Dewoo Systems; Jang Chungmo, President of Jeonnam Development Corporation; Kang Yuwon, Head of Korea Electric Power Corporation Gwangju-Jeonnam Regional Headquarters; Myeong Hyungwan, Mayor of Haenam County; Park Sanghee, Director of New Industry Distributed Energy, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy; Ko Hyungkwon, Chairman (Vice Chairman) of Boseong Industry Investment Promotion Committee; Kim Youngrok, Governor of Jeollanam-do; Kim Sangguk, Vice President of Samsung C&T; Kim Honggeun, Vice President of LG CNS; Choi Seungho, Vice President of NH Investment & Securities; Lee Gangseong, CEO of Boseong Industry; Park Heejun, CEO of TGK. / Photo by Hanyang

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Jeollanam-do, Haenam-gun, Korea Electric Power Corporation, Jeonnam Development Corporation, and private and public entities including Boseong Industry, Korea DRD, Samsung C&T, LG CNS, TGK, NH Investment & Securities, and Deus Systems signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the 24th at the Solarsido promotional center to establish the 'Solarsido Data Center Park.'

This project involves building up to 25 data centers of 40MW class each (up to 1GW scale) on approximately 500,000 pyeong of Solarsido RE100 industrial land, with a total project cost reaching 10 trillion KRW.

Following the MOU signing, public institutions will promptly establish key infrastructure such as power and communication necessary for the development of the Solarsido Data Center Park. In particular, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and local governments plan to support the designation of Solarsido as a distributed energy special zone to ensure smooth and stable supply of power generated from renewable energy. The seven private investment companies will strive not only to build their own data centers but also to attract investment from domestic and international RE100 data center demand companies.

Solarsido, developed by the Special Purpose Corporation (SPC) Seonamhaean Corporate City Development on about 20.9 million square meters in Haenam-gun, is evaluated as an ideal location for large-scale renewable energy power generation complexes such as solar and wind power and for supplying generated power to nearby industrial complexes. The Jeonnam region has a low natural disaster rate, ensuring high site stability, and land acquisition costs are cheaper than in metropolitan urban areas. Accordingly, the plan is to build low-density warehouse-type data centers to shorten construction periods and improve energy efficiency.

With the full-scale development of the Data Center Park, the Solarsido development project is expected to accelerate alongside Jeonnam’s top regional pledge project, the 'Eco-friendly Renewable Energy Industrial Belt.' Solarsido is expected to contribute to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 by creating an industrial belt that directly supplies renewable energy to companies planning RE100.

The Seonamhaean Corporate City Development stated that for the Data Center Park to become a successful case, timely establishment of key infrastructure such as power and communication, attracting investment, securing land, and building residential infrastructure for the resident population are required.

Accordingly, Park Sang-hee, Director of the New Industry Distributed Energy Division at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said, "As Solarsido is an important milestone in distributed energy policy, we will actively support the successful establishment of the Data Center Park by forming a dedicated support team with KEPCO, Jeonnam Province, and others."

Kim Young-rok, Governor of Jeonnam Province, also said, "A solid foundation has been laid for Jeonnam to emerge as South Korea’s advanced data industry forward base," adding, "We will do our best to support the companies that have come together to invest in the Solarsido Data Center Park to succeed."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.